Navy vet in same-sex marriage demands VA benefits

Libor Jany, Staff Writer

Updated 6:58 pm, Thursday, October 13, 2011

NEW HAVEN -- A disabled Navy veteran from Connecticut is going to court to try to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to recognize her marriage to her longtime female partner.

Carmen Cardona, who filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Thursday, plans to challenge the constitutionality of a federal statute -- and its legal cousin the Defense of Marriage Act, the controversial 1996 law that prohibits the U.S. government from recognizing same-sex marriages -- cited when the VA denied her spousal disability benefits, her legal team said.

The Puerto Rico native, now living in Norwich, said she was unable to collect her veterans' benefits because her wife is of the same sex. The couple has been married since 2010.

Most veterans receive an increase in their monthly disability benefits when they marry.

"They (the VA) stated this outright: `You cannot get benefits...because your spouse is not a male,'" Cardona said over the telephone Thursday. "I'm not the only one that is homosexual, so I would like for everybody to hear about this and come forward.

"I'm privileged to be in the state of Connecticut, (where) they do recognize same-sex marriage," she said.

Cardona, 45, held a press conference Thursday morning at Yale Law School to discuss the details of the suit, according to a press release issued by the Veterans Legal Services Clinic on Wednesday.

Sofia Nelson, who is part of Cardona's legal team, which comprises law-student interns from the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School, says that the case could set a legal precedent for future gay rights litigation.

"It's our understanding that Ms. Cardona is the first veteran to demand the VA recognize (same-sex marriages)," Nelson said Thursday. "While President Obama has said that the Department of Justice will not defend DOMA in court, that does not mean that federal agencies will (stop) enforcing DOMA."

Nelson added that the appeals court has "the jurisdiction to declare both DOMA and the VA statute unconstitutional," she said.

Cardona, who was honorably discharged after 18 years of service -- including stints in Florida, Connecticut and Puerto Rico -- works as a correctional officer at York Correctional Institute in Niantic.

"We could use the help to pay our mortgage, but this is not only about the money," Cardona said in the release. "President Obama is right that DOMA discriminates against gay and lesbian people. There are many other veterans out there just like me. I am standing up and asking to be treated equally in part to let others know they are not alone."

Cardona was first diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in 1994, she said, which was exacerbated by years of working in naval aviation, dismantling aircraft panels without the aid of power tools.

"In order to do those inspections and maintenance of the aircraft, I had to remove these panels," she said.

She says that she hopes the suit will illuminate the continued struggles of gay military veterans.

"I want it to be where we are treated as equals," Cardona said, "that the word does go out there, no matter who we are that are all treated as Americans."

Contact Libor Jany at ljany@newstimes.com or 203-731-3350. Follow him at twitter.com/ljanyNT